Cloud Commander (cloudcmd) is a simple open source, traditional yet useful cross-platform web file manager with console and editor support. It is written in JavaScript/Node.js and enables you manage a server and work with...

On Gentoo and Arch Linux

Once you have installed nodejs and npm packages, next, install cloud commander file manager with the following command with root permissions:

$ npm i cloudcmd -g
OR
$ npm i cloudcmd -g --force

How to Use Cloud Commander in Linux

To start it, simply run:

$ cloudcmd

By default, Cloud Commander reads configurations in ~/.cloudcmd.json if no command options are set. It uses port 8000, in case the port variables PORT or VCAP_APP_PORT don’t exist.

You can start using it by opening the URL in your browser:

http://SERVER_IP:8000

Cloud Commander File Manager

View File Menu

To view menu; file operation options, simply select the file and right click on it, you’ll view the options shown in the screen shot below.

Cloud Commander File Menu

View Files and Directories

To open it with a single panel, use the --one-panel-mode flag or simply resize the browser interface:

$ cloudcmd --one-panel-mode

The screenshot below shows viewing of an image file.

Cloud Commander File Preview

Edit Files in Browser

The following screenshot shows opening a script file for editing.

Cloud Commander Edit Files

Access Linux Terminal from Browser

Press ~ button to open the Linux terminal or console.

Linux Commander Web Console

Terminal Interface

By default, the terminal is disabled and not installed, to use it you should install gritty as follows with root user privileges:

$ npm i gritty -g

Then set the path of a terminal and save configuration like so:

$ cloudcmd --terminal --terminal-path "gritty --path here" --save

Update Cloud Commander

To update Cloud Commander use this command:

$ npm install cloudcmd -g

Use Hot/Shortcut Keys.

F1 – View help

F2 – Rename a file

F3 – View a file

F4 – Edit a file

F5 – Copy a file

F6 – Move a file

F7 – Create a new directory

F8 – Delete a file

F9 – Open menu

F10 – View file configurations/permissions plus many more.

You can run this for help:

$ cloudcmd --help

You can find a comprehensive usage guide and configuration information at https://cloudcmd.io/.

In this article, we reviewed Cloud Commander, a simple traditional yet useful web file manager with console and editor support for Linux. To share your thoughts with us, make us of the comment form below. Have you come across any similar tools out there? Tell us as well.